With the upgrade of all TimeControl Online users to version 8.6, those with access to TimeControl Project can enjoy some significant new features.

Resource Capacity Planning enhancements

It’s the most commonly asked question about all project systems, “Can you help me figure out what the future looks like for our projects?”

In TimeControl Project 8.6, we’ve changed how resources are defined and allocated in two ways: First, you can now define a level of resource availability in the Resource Table.  You can work in person-days or hours per day or FTE or whatever units of measure are appropriate for you.  In the Task detail screen from the GANTT or Board Views, you can make an assignment also with a level.  The second feature change is that not only Labor resources can be used but also Role resources.

This shift to allowing resources that are not individuals is huge for portfolio views.  Now you can define in a unit of measure both the availability and the requirement for the resources in question and, using a task-based view with one-task per project, you can create a GANTT view showing resource capacity with under/over loads.

Update timesheet from task details view

The most requested new feature for TimeControl Project Agile Board users.  While working on a task taken from an Agile Board, users asked if there was a way to update their timesheet directly from that view.  Many tactical level users, spend all day with a TimeControl Agile Board View open so they can see their list of tasks and priorities.  With previous versions of TimeControl Project, when the end of the day arrives, the user would need to close that Board View, open their timesheet and transpose the times from whatever tasks they were working on into the timesheet lines.

Now, the timesheet can be updated right from a task detail view by clicking update timesheet.  If the View is “task” based and the task is associated to a charge code, then the timesheet will appear and a line will have been automatically added with the charge code identified and a column with the relevant task number shown.  That line plus any others can be updated at the same time.  The user can then return to the task detail view and move on with their day.

There is an article that may be of interest on this subject in HMS Software’s President, Chris Vandersluis’ EPM Guidance Blog.  It is entitled: Whatever happened to resource leveling?